Black and White

If you started your photographic life during the digital era, you may not have a whole lot of familiarity with black and white photography. But back in the old days, anyone taking photography classes always learned first in black and white. Black and white film was easy to develop and print, and it did a very good job of teaching students about things like light, contrast, form and texture. So can you still get great black and white photos with a digital camera? Absolutely! Keep reading to find out how.Continue Reading »

When you think about black and white photography – classic black and white photography – you probably first think about beautiful, small aperture landscapes with big, bold skies and lots of natural beauty. But the chances are pretty good that you have also seen plenty of beautiful landscapes that are not in black and white. Have you ever thought about why some photographers choose to shoot in color and why some photographers choose to shoot without? How can you arrive at the best decision when it comes to choosing black and white versus color?Continue Reading »

Back in the caveman days, you know, when we took photos on film, a formal education in photography often began with black and white. Black and white photography was a good format for beginning students because the film was easy to process and darkroom techniques were straightforward. Today we bypass that whole film-to-darkroom thing, so a lot of us are passing over the opportunity to learn about shooting in black and white. After all, why would we want to shoot in drab shades of gray? We live in a color world.

If this is your thinking, it’s time to re-examine the way you think about photography – and the way you see the world around you. Black and white photos have something that color photos do not: simplicity. When you strip away all the color from a scene, you immediately have something that is simpler than its original.Continue Reading »

Black and white photography is considered to be classic and expressively emotional. After all this time and technology, it remains quite a popular format among all genres. However, unless you’ve spent time reading your camera’s manual or poking around the settings, you might not be aware that there’s a “Monochrome” option. This setting lets you both preview and shoot in black and white.Continue Reading »

Digital photography has done a lot of great things for us. It’s made film unnecessary, which means that individual shots no longer cost anything and you are now free to take as many pictures as you want without fear of wasted film. A related benefit is that you no longer need to choose a specific film to put in your camera–if you want to shoot at a higher ISO there’s no need to go out and purchase that high ISO film–instead, you just select the correct ISO in your camera’s settings. And the same is true for black and white vs. color. If your camera allows it, you can switch back and forth between black and white on the fly, or you can do as many conversions as you like in post-processing. But there are still some things you need to remember to ensure that your digital black and white images are as beautiful as the black and white film photos taken decades ago.Continue Reading »

When you’re beginning black and white photography, it’s often difficult to figure out what to photograph in the first place. You’ve seen some amazing black and white photos, but you don’t know why they’re so amazing. How can black and white enhance a subject? Are certain subjects more tailored to black and white photography than others?

In a word, yes. Black and white photography is almost a completely different artform. With the colors no longer there to take your viewer’s attention away from the tiny details, you can focus more on the form and texture in your image. Consider photographing the following subjects the next time you make the switch to black and white.Continue Reading »

What are the best ways to take a black and white photo in today’s color digital world? That’s a question I often get asked. And it’s a great question because there is more than one way to convert a shot taken with a color camera into black and white. If you’re not sure of the tricks, your images might not end up looking as good as they could.Continue Reading »

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I'm David Peterson and I'm sharing over 1100 tips and techniques on photography with you.
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